Questions during a crisis are less about facts and more about emotions. This question comes straight from the gut, not the head. Most leaders I’ve watched acted as if it were just the opposite. When they ignore the emotions and speak only to the facts, they lose their team or their audience. That’s why Yes is such a tempting answer for a leader and why leaders are tempted to use it when it doesn’t apply. Nowhere is that more obvious than when it comes to job security. As much as you’d like to be able to answer this question with a yes, don’t do it unless you are 100 percent certain.
Of course, not much in today’s world is 100 percent certain, so your answer to this question is apt to be closer to I don’t know, and there are some comments about that answer in the next section. But you’re in front of your team right now and don’t have time to page through a book to find a formula for success. (Don’t bother looking for one. In this kind of situation, formulas don’t exist.) Think of it this way. What would you want to hear in this situation? A forthright I don’t know or a lot of fancy words and phrases used to obscure the fact that what is being delivered is no answer at all?
Maybe there is a formula after all. Don’t ignore the emotions you’re dealing with. Tell the truth, sincerely and frequently. Update as promised in clear and simple language. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Keep the promises you do make, and stay visible. Don’t shy away from the emotions; learn to deal with them. You’ll be a better leader for it.
This is a question that is asked but not vocalized, so you may have to bring it up yourself. In any crisis people look closest to home first. That’s nothing to be ashamed of—it comes from the survival instinct in all of us. But sometimes, when we realized we’ve stopped thinking about the big picture and have focused on our own situation, we feel guilty.
As a leader you need to remember that people are thinking about the effect on their own lives even though that might not be what they’re saying. You might have to say it for them. You might have to bring up a question you know you can’t answer. How’s that for walking out on a limb voluntarily?
The same issues we explored for the last two answers apply here. Just because you don’t know the complete answer doesn’t mean you can give an answer and promise more information as it becomes available. Remember to keep your promises, however, or none of the good will you had before the crisis will last.
If you ignore the advice from the last question, you probably won’t have to face this question. Not what I’d recommend, however. When people ask What is coming next?, it is good news. This question means they can see a little beyond the immediate, and it is usually an indication that you’ve been doing a good job of answering the What’s happening? question.
At any given time during a crisis, you may or may not have an answer to this question. That’s okay. Just continue to tell what you know and what you can tell when you can tell it. Make the time of your next update common public knowledge and keep it, even if you have nothing new to add. Be visible. When you see some future possibilities that you can share, do so. Label them as speculation or good bets or whatever term actually describes their probability. If they become more probable, announce that. If they fade as possibilities, announce that.
Three things a leader can do wrong during a crisis are to disappear, to start and then stop communications, and to make promises in the heat of the moment that they can’t keep later. Practice not doing these three things when there isn’t a crisis, and you’ll do okay when there is.
The response to this question is less about completeness than it is about frequency. In the midst of a crisis, leaders can have an unimaginable list of people competing for their time and attention. It appears that the people on their teams often go to the bottom of the list. I think this is a mistake. Your people will be patient and understanding because you have, of course, been straight with them before this situation arose, but they need something to be patient and understanding about.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you should wait until you’ve gotten everything figured out or have a complete picture before talking to your team. Frequent communication in settings where they can physically see you is best. Even when there is nothing new to say, visibility always works in your favor.
Take a deep breath before you talk. Calm yourself. Make good eye contact. Let your feelings show appropriately. Finish by promising an update and KEEP YOUR PROMISE.
Did the word “love” in this question make you raise an eyebrow, cough nervously, or think about moving on to the next article? These questions are going to get increasingly personal as the pages turn, and you’re going to have to make a decision about whether or not you’re going to stay with them. Being a leader requires that you go to a deeper level instead of staying on the surface. Oh, you can manage by skimming the top of issues, emotions, and people, but you can’t lead from there.
Leadership requires thinking about and acting on things that occur beneath the surface. It requires that you care enough to confront. People who have heard me talk about teams have heard me say, “Hate is not the opposite of love. Apathy is.” Leaders can’t be apathetic. So we need to talk about love, enthusiasm, fun, and meaning. Can you handle that?
What do you love about your job? I hope it doesn’t take too long for you to answer. It’s easy for leaders to get so caught up in all the important things they’re supposed to do that they forget the things that brought them to their profession in the first place. I remember when my Aunt Elsie, who became a nurse during World War II, realized that she wasn’t happy being a nurse because nurses no longer spent much time with patients. Her first impulse was to quit nursing since the part of the job she loved the most no longer occupied most of her time, but she came to understand that, by changing the kind of nursing she was doing, she could do more of what she loved. She left the hospital setting and became a visiting nurse. She devoted the rest of her nursing career to direct patient care.
So let me ask the question again. What is the part of your job that you love? The part you would do if they paid you or not? What are the ways you can work more of those activities into your schedule?
Just one other thought. What about loving the things you have to do? There is a great greeting card that says, “In order to love what you do, don’t do what you love, love what you do.” Pretend I’ve just sent you that card. Hold it in your hands, stare at it for a while, and ponder the message. Just some more food for thought.
In a recent interview on the Today show, the musician Jon Bon Jovi told Matt Lauer how much he enjoyed working as an actor with Matthew McConaughey on the movie U-571. As an inexperienced actor, Bon Jovi looked to McConaughey as a leader and wasn’t disappointed. Bon Jovi said that it wasn’t what McConaughey said but what he did that helped him. Leaders teach by example whether they know they’re doing it or not. Do you remember the first time an adult said to you, “Do as I say, not as I do”? Did it strike you as ridiculous at the time? If it didn’t then, it certainly should now. Your development as a leader won’t go very far if you don’t learn this lesson. People inside and outside of your organization will learn more from you about leadership, for good or ill, from what you do than from what you say.
Learning about learning is a hot topic in many workplaces. Businesses in general have reached the conclusion that if they’re not learning about their customers, themselves, and their future on a daily basis they’re losing the race. I’ve observed many management team meetings where leaders have discussed learning strategies and opportunities for their people to get smarter. I haven’t listened in on conversations where they’ve challenged each other and reported on their personal earning goals. And that’s a problem. People will believe that learning is part of their job in your organization by watching whether or not you’re learning.
So, let’s talk about what you’re learning. I hope you can answer this question with two things in mind. First is that you’d be excited to share the skill you’re learning that will make you better at doing your job. It would be great if you could also share how you’re learning. Is it a formal process or a self-study situation? You would tell how you were taking what you’ve learned and practiced and applied it in a real-life situation. You would be willing to share how you might have failed as you tried new skills and how you appreciated the feedback you got from others as you practiced. You would look and sound excited as you described how this learning was making your work easier, more efficient, and more fun.
Then, you would move on to telling us about what you were learning in your personal life. Your face would light up as you described your movement into uncharted waters. Who your teacher was. How often you got to practice what you were learning. How you realized that this personal learning was giving you insights about your business situation—an unexpected bonus. How something could be frustrating and fun at the same time.
After a conversation like this, I’d know you were a lifelong learner and I’d be challenged. Way to go, leader!
Recently, four of us gathered around a table to play cards. Of the four, one knew all the rules, two knew some of the rules, and the fourth thought she’d played the game once in her life. We played a practice hand to give everyone the opportunity to get a feel for the rules, and then we began playing the game for real. Several rounds into the game, our expert played a winning card. We looked at her with blank stares, and she said, “Oh, I guess I forget to tell you about this move.” You can imagine our indignation and the discussion that followed about her winning hand. We’ve all felt that way at one time or another. We wanted to win, we were playing by the rules, and then someone told us that we really didn’t know the whole story. Success wasn’t an illusion; it was just a little different from what we were led to believe. (Just in case you’re wondering, she won the hand but didn’t win the game.)
Success can be a very elusive commodity, especially when you don’t know what success is. One would think that if an organization has a set of values, it would be pretty easy to figure out what the rules of success are. If your values say the customer is number one, you’ll want to consider the customer’s needs and wants in everything you do. If respect for people is high on your organization’s values list, you’ll want to work on relationships as you get your job done. And if your organization lives their stated values, you’ll be right. But not all organizations do what they say.
Leaders have three choices when they want to answer this question. They can review the organization’s values with the questioner and help clarify the specific behaviors that match the stated values. They can apologize that they haven’t done their job as a leader and get to work on a set of values that are meaningful for their situation. Or they can change either their existing values or their behavior if the two don’t currently match. No matter which of these three options fits your situation, you’ve got to get the message out to everyone: “This is how we play the game.” No fair slipping in a rule or two later.
In a crisis this question will mean different things to different people, and that’s perfectly okay. Some people will assume that you’re asking about their physical well-being and will answer from that perspective. Some will assume you’re asking about their mental state and will answer that way. Still others will give you credit for thinking and caring about both. They’ll answer with that interpretation in mind. No matter which question they believe you’ve asked, their answers will be valid.
In times of crisis, people look to their leaders for clues to the behavior that’s expected. The last thing a leader should do in emergency situations is to disappear. If you disappear, your people will create reasons for your absence, none of which will be particularly favorable to you or your leadership. Your organization, your leadership team, your people, or, in some situations, the public, can’t afford for you to disappear, hide behind spokespeople, stop making eye contact, or utter repeated No comments. (There are ways of not making a statement without saying No comment. Learn how from a professional.) The bigger the crisis, the more visible, approachable, and accessible leaders need to be. No excuses. No exceptions.
Okay, maybe one little exception. If you’re facing a major crisis, one that seriously limits your ability to spend time with each person you need to ask this question of, appoint people to ask and listen in your place. Gather them together and explain that “The first thing we need to do is to check on our team. I want each of you to talk and listen to as many of our people as you can by asking them if they’re okay.” Then, plan your timetable, send the group out to ask and listen, and regroup to discuss the responses and plan your next actions. This exception does not extend permission to disappear from the eyes of the people who look to you for leadership. I’ve granted you permission to ease up on the approachability and accessibility, but not the visibility.
If this isn’t making sense, let me try one more time. Does thinking about Mayor Giuliani’s conduct after September 11th make the picture clearer?
Please consider this question carefully. Asking it means that you take leadership seriously, and it would be dishonest to ask if you neither have the resources nor the intentions to provide the support you’re asking about. But, even if you don’t have a formal program for new leaders, you can still support their efforts. You are their leader, after all.
Support in general is a key aspect of a leader’s job. In fact, supporting others as they work to get their jobs done is the biggest part of a leader’s job. Your supportive actions will take many forms, but they’re all just part of a broader support system for new leaders.
* Leaders provide support when they act as role models. From the superheroes of our youth to the inspiring figures of adulthood, we’ve all craved having someone to show us how to behave. This if I had a pattern I could follow it stems from our earliest way of learning. As very young children we watched the people around us, imitated their behavior, and learned about how the world worked. Leaders can support by serving as role models.
* Leaders provide support when they break barriers for their teams. Leaders aren’t leading when they solve problems for their team. But they aren’t leading either if they distance themselves from their team’s issues. Leaders are right on target when they help a team clarify the problem they’re working on, offer a wider perspective on an issue, provide feedback (when requested) on a particular solution, offer access to resources when implementation is imminent, or take a battle farther up in the organization when something falls outside of the team’s charter. Leaders provide support when they eliminate appropriate barriers.
* Leaders provide support when they listen. Sometimes people need a sounding board for their thoughts and ideas—not a surface that talks back, but a surface that reflects their own thoughts and ideas so the team can see their work from a fresh perspective. People need a surface that asks questions when clarity is needed. Good listening behavior allows a leader to do all these things. Leaders provide support when they listen.
Practice these, and add other supporting behaviors to your leading repertoire. There is probably no more rewarding work for a leader to do than to nurture new leaders. The bonus is that you’ll be a better leader for it.
Why would you ask this question? Why do you ask any question? Questions are asked in order to learn. This question goes to the heart of the philosophy that believes that people aren’t born to be great leaders; they’re great leaders because they’ve learned to lead.
(A note of caution for this and the next question. Don’t ask these questions if you and your organization don’t have the intention or the systems in place to provide learning and support activities for newly promoted leaders. It just isn’t fair.)
If I had to guess, I’d predict you’re going to hear answers that range from “I don’t know” to “Here’s my list.” Think about your responses to answers that fill that spectrum as I share a few of my ideas.
The person who responds with a list of leadership behaviors they want or need to learn about needs help with prioritizing. If you don’t help them focus their leadership learning objectives, they will quickly become overwhelmed by the scope of all they believe they don’t know. They need your guidance so they can pick one behavior or skill to work on first. Based on your understanding of the group this person is about to lead and their current leadership skill set, make a few suggestions about places to start as well as what resources are available. Be prepared to follow up with them in fairly short order to make sure they’ve kept focused and not fallen into the “I’m so overwhelmed I can’t do anything” trap.
A response of “I’m not sure yet” requires more questions. You need to help this new leader explore the scope of good leadership skills and find a way to discover where they should start their leadership learning plan. If you’ve asked, What did the best leader you ever had do?, you have some insight into this person’s view of good leadership, and you can use that answer as a starting place.
A straight-on “I don’t know” response to this question means you’ve got some work on your hands. My first concern would be to see if this new leader is taking their new role seriously enough. I’d hope that anyone who was stepping into their first leadership position would have spent some time thinking about what they needed to learn in order to become an effective leader. Trying not to let my obvious negative judgment show (that’s probably something you wouldn’t have to deal with, would you?), I’d indicate that we need to continue this conversation for a while until the right follow-up steps become obvious.
An aside. If you have influence over your organization’s training programs, this question should make you curious about how you prepare leaders in your organization. This would be a perfect time to find out.
